TOP TEN *THURSDAYS* | Insert Evil Laugh

I could’t help it. I posted up my actual Top Ten TUESDAYS entry on my other blog; it was a freebie week and I ended up with a non-bookish list. As I was finishing that one up, I suddenly got inspired by to do another list on a book-related topic.

I originally wanted to do Top Book GIRLfriends but it sounded quite similar to a previous TTT post about Girl Power. And besides, majority of the women in the books that I’ve read are more kickass than the guys. Just sayin’. 😉 Guys can be cute like Peeta Mellark but can you call Katniss “cute”? She might shoot an arrow through your thigh.

Anyway, I decided on best villains. In the Robin LaFevers author appearance, she gave a great answer to the question, “What makes a good villain?”

A villain thinks he’s the hero of his own story. A villain is someone you can hate guilt free but is challenging to the hero.

For me, a sign of a great villain is when s/he brings forth the feeling of great dislike from me. I’m pretty emotional and I hate it when a character I feel strongly about gets pushed around or wronged. I mean, you can see me knit my eyebrows together and grip the book a little bit tighter when I read the villainous parts. Haha, who else does that? 😉 Here’s a couple of characters that do exactly that.

1. Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She was the first character to ever elicit HATE from my insides. I hated the injustice that she was doing to Harry… and Harry wasn’t even my favorite character! I don’t care for Harry but whenever she punished him for no reason – or if the punishment was too much for such a small act – I wanted to strangle her. It took me 2 days to read this book because I was pissed at her, I had to take breaks.

2. Blackjack Randall from Outlander. Oh man, this is a testament of how brilliant Tobias Menzies is as an actor. I absolutely hated this character in both the book and TV show. But I’m not one of those crazies who can’t separate actor from character. I love Tobias; I think he’s fantastic and so very dapper. But Blackjack Randall, oh god. He’s sadistic, cruel… EVIL. And he’s hurting Jamie in the worst possible way. *tears in my eyes*

3. Nils Bjurman from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Or as we call him, Advokat Nils Erik Bjurman. I love saying his full name and title. But he’s an awful person. He got what he deserved, that fat bastard.

4. The Reed Family from Jane Eyre. I remember how I puked all my emotions towards the Reeds when I wrote my NaNoWriMo piece in 2010. It was a Brad/Nate fan fiction loosely based on Jane Eyre. Nate was Jane and – I’m not tooting my own horn here – every time I read back to this yet unfinished piece, I get tears in my eyes. But anyway, I just don’t like unfairness… especially from those who got undeserved power. Eh, this gets a bit personal for me. I better stop before I spill.

5. The Grandmother from Flowers in the Attic. I think this lady’s a psychopath. She was just so fcking evil. EVIL. How can you do those things to your own grandchildren? They say blood is thicker than water. For this person, it’s not.

6. Waleran Bigod from The Pillars of the Earth.That’s spelled with a D not with a T, if you know what I mean. He’s a man of the cloth but he’s the personification of self-righteous evil in The Pillars of the Earth. He’s corrupt and he will bring anyone down in order to lift his status in society. I just… he’s awful.

7. The House Bellona from Red Rising. I understand power dynamics and politics but once that persecution becomes physical and violent, I sets me off. One of my main issues with this book is that it seems a little emotionless. But the House Bellona was able to make me feel mad towards their members and pity for Darrow.

8. Nolan Sorrento from Ready Player One. I didn’t want him to win. It infuriated me whenever he earned a key or opened a gate. I just… no.

9. Cujo from Cujo. Well, duh. I went through a Stephen King phase in college and this was one of those that stood out to me. (I have an irrational fear of clowns so I wouldn’t even dare It.) I’m more of a dog person vs cats but I’ve never been 100% comfortable around dogs. But it’s not about Cujo being a dog. He’s a rabid, crazy, KILLER dog. Just read it and see for yourself.

10. Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. He forged the One Ring to rule them all. That alone makes him immensely powerful. Why couldn’t the other races do the same? (Yes, you can argue greed and the hunger for control being the root of Sauron’s evil but take all that away, he’s still pretty powerful.) I wonder how the disembodied Sauron would use the One Ring had it found its way back to him. I guess we’ll never know.